NINETY- EIGHT

I was studying alone in Lucille's ballet class a few days before the bee.

Lucille was doing an En pointe with her left leg touching her forehead. I could see she was struggling as her right foot was shivering and she dropped her weight on the full sole of her foot when she couldn't take it any more.

Just then, the instructor whipped her back with a cane and she stood on her toes again.

Yeesh, harsh...

I could tell the instructor was being harder on Lucille as all the other students were just doing stretches, apart from one boy who was doing Grand Jetes, with an s.

I had had enough of the woman whipping Lucille whenever she stumbled in doing something she wasn't strong enough to do so I went forward and said,"Hey Miss, can you please stop whipping my friend?"

She looked me up and down and asked,"No, now what are you?"

I dropped my jaw and said,"This what is one of the contestants in the annual spelling bee, whose brother pays greater a fee every term than your yearly salary!"

She widened her eyes and Lucille started shaking her head for me to stop then the woman whipped her again and she squealed.

I lost it at that moment and pounced on her then she yelled as we struggled for the whip.

All the students looked at us in shock as I pulled it out of her grip and began to cheer when I started whipping she herself.

Lucille slapped her hand on her forehead in disparity.

I was sent to the Principal's office and she glared at me. The teacher started the waterworks and said,"This boy insulted me by saying I'm underpaid and started hitting me with a stick, when I didn't deserve it."

I just remained silent to let her conscience do it's work...it didn't.

The Principal looked at me and asked,"And why were you whipping her?"

I said,"Because she was whipping the students whenever they struggled instead of helping them, and she called me a what!"

The Principal sighed and said,"I can't expell you because of your brother..."

I love Mark...

She continued,"...but I still must take action, you are disqualified from the spelling bee."

I widened my eyes while the teacher snickered and I said,"But she deserved it! I'm telling the truth!"

"Mr Hawkins, you are speaking against a teacher and a Principal."

I sat down. Just then, I got a notification on my phone...

My phone!

"Look I got it all on video."

The teacher looked like she had just seen a ghost and the Principal watched the video and frowned.

She looked at the teacher who was begging and said,"Ms Roberts, if I find out from any of your students that you have been maltreating them like this, I will not hesitate to let you go."

The teacher was really, really thankful and kissed the Principal's feet the crawled away.

What a drama queen.

I didn't know how Lucille would react and was shocked as she hugged me and said,"Thanks Tommy."

I said,"Anything bestie."

On the first day of the bee, I was going against the people who signed up in my class. I came up victorious and went to share my joy with Ruby, but as usual...

"Look at that."

I looked at Rose who was also practicing and her instructor told her to spell pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcaniosis, backwards.

She rattled the letters like she was drinking water and my jaw dropped. She was done with the sentence...word in less than ten seconds, and still had the time and brain capacity to roll her eyes at me while spelling and yet still said she wanted to be better.

What the heck?! Isn't spelling a forty letter word backwards enough for ?! Even your instructor is content! Arrogant birdbrain!

My hopes of winning were crushed by the weight of the word she just spelled.

The next day of the bee was coming and Ruby made my training even more intense. I had to learn the basics of Greek and Latin just so I could spell better and languages were not my strong suit.

The second day of the bee came and I was going against the four candidates from the floor right above me and the four candidates from the floor below me.

Of course my floor also picked the first four.

I was first and was told to spell the vowels in the word rhythm backwards.

I took a deep breath and began...

"Okay...wait, rhythm has no vowels."

I got it correct and made a huge sigh of relief when I sat down.

The next person was told to spell the word hippopotamus and he began,"H- i- p- o-..."

He was buzzed.

In the end, I came in second since I couldn't spell only the consonants in the word hypothalamus.

Mark was super proud of my achievement coming second, though I wasn't. I tried my best to discourage him from boasting to everyone that I was second but he didn't stop.

My parents raised me to only be the best and not be with the rest.

Ruby continued tutoring me till the third and final day of the bee.

The words all seemed made up or like sentences that had been crammed together.

Pulchritudinous, oligodendrocyte, seminiferous, cuplubublah, blah, blah, I can't remember.

And if you were given a ' short ' word like iguanodon, you would be given a twist like, spell only the vowels backwards, spell it while jumping and more and Rose was rocking it!

People were making mistakes while that evil girl was having perfect technique.

At the end of the day, when it was my turn, I was told to spell uncopyrightable backwards.

I had no idea which letter to begin from and asked them to repeat it four times. I already knew the word, I just wanted to stall them so they wouldn't know that I couldn't spell it.

I needed some help but the crowd was dead silent. Sweat started dripping down my face as I crossed my fingers and felt my insides burn.

I was just about to say ' l ' when I heard someone yell my name and begin cheering.

Everyone looked at Mark who was cheering for me, I was so embarrassed, yet I loved it.

Thank you Mark...

I spelled it and got it correct.

Mark didn't stop cheering though they told him to and that was exactly what I needed.

In the end, I came in third. Rose was obviously first and a guy named Phil Collins was second.

I felt terrible, all that cheering and I let Mark down.

Before, I was second, but now, I'm third!

I was walking out of the auditorium when I was lifted into the air.

Mark put me on his shoulders and started cheering again and boasting about how talented I was.

I tried my best to compare myself to the first two but Mark simply said,"They didn't try with your same intention to make their guardian proud."

This guy isn't going to give up, is he?

He took Ruby, Lucille and me to the most expensive restaurant in the city, just to celebrate my being third.

He made me feel confident about my achievement and I loved him for that.

He was the best brother ever...